It’s August 8, 1996, and the suddenly surging Orioles have won eight of their last 10 games after bashing out three more homers en route to a 6-4 win that completed the sweep in Milwaukee.

“I think we’re scoring about 10 runs a game, and that helps,” said center fielder Brady Anderson, who hit his 35th homer. “But anytime you get starting pitching as good as ours has been, you’re going to do pretty well. If you put together a streak like this, you’re doing a lot of things right.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1D, August 9, 1996)

The good starting pitching today came from rookie Rocky Coppinger, who gave up two runs over five innings to move to 7-3 on the year.

The O’s scored all their runs on two-run home runs. In addition to Brady’s, Eddie Murray and Bobby Bonilla also went yard as Baltimore likely put to bed any hopes the Brewers had of making the wild card. With his dinger, Murray passed Lou Gehrig on the all-time home run list with 494.

Meanwhile, the O’s are now within three games of wild-card-leading Chicago, and they head off to play the White Sox tomorrow night.

“At this point,” Anderson said, “we understand the significance of every game.”

Here’s the box score with the lovely totals. 

Baltimore made a roster move today, claiming lefty reliever Mike Milchin off waivers from the Twins. Milchin is 28 years old and to this point has been very, very bad in the major leagues. In 21⅔ this year, he has given up 31 hits, 12 walks, and 21 runs. Yikes.

When told about the new arm in the ’pen, O’s manager Davey Johnson had a blunt assessment for the Sun’s Buster Olney. “He didn’t pitch well against us,” he said. “We’ll try him and see how he does.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 5D, August 9, 1996)

A ringing endorsement, to be sure. Welcome to Birdland, Mike! 

In other news, Jeffrey Hammonds is hitting .321 since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester. Johnson, perhaps relying on sage managerial wisdom, thought the best way to encourage the young outfielder would be to remind the media that he was quite bad earlier in the year.

“He’s showing a lot more patience at the plate,” Johnson said. “If he was swinging the bat like this early in the season, we would’ve won two games from the Yankees.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 5D, August 9, 1996)

Attaboy, Jeffrey! Oh, and remember how you singlehandedly lost two games to the Yankees earlier this year? Anyway, go get ’em!

Bobby Bo, Brady, Eddie… keep those dingers coming!

There he is! There’s our boy!

Orioles (59-54) at White Sox (63-52) 8:05 p.m.

Starting Pitchers
BAL – LHP David Wells (9-10, 4.58 ERA)
CHW – RHP James Baldwin (9-2, 3.88 ERA)

A recent international study has shown what could be a medical breakthrough. Researchers have determined that bone marrow transplants can cure sickle cell disease in some children.

According to a front page wire story from the New York Times, the study looked at 22 patients with advanced disease, and 16 were cured “by replacing the bone marrow that produces the defective red blood cells characteristic of the disease.”

To temper some of the enthusiasm, two of the children died after undergoing the transplants.

Sickle cell is an inherited disease that affects millions of people around the world. It disproportionately impacts people whose ancestors hail from Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, or India. 

In 1996, it is estimated that 80,000 Black Americans have the condition, and 1 in 12 Black babies is born with the genetic trait for passing it on.

It is a horribly painful condition, which is why news of a potential treatment pathway has ended up on the front page.

With 30 years of hindsight, we can say that this was the breakthrough that it was advertised to be. This spring, Johns Hopkins doctors achieved a 95% cure rate for sickle cell disease through bone marrow transplants.

“Essentially, nearly everybody who has either sickle cell disease or thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder, can be cured, because nearly everybody has a donor,” said Dr. Javier Bolaños-Meade, a professor of oncology at Hopkins.

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

Atlanta has invited the gold-medal javelin thrower to spring training next year. That is casting a wide net for talent!